sort_streets.py

# import modules
import re

def sort_streets(street_list):
    """
    Sort streets alphabetically, ignoring cardinal direction prefixes such as North, South, East and West
    :param street_list: list of street names
    """
    prefix = re.compile('^North|South|East|West|N\.?|S\.?|E\.?|W\.$', re.IGNORECASE)

    # list to store lists  for sorting
    street_sort_list = []

    # for every street
    for street in street_list:
        street_parts = street.split(' ')
        if prefix.match(street_parts[0]) and len(street_parts) > 2:
            street_parts.append( street_parts.pop(0) )
            
        street_sort_list.append(street_parts)

    # sort the streets
    street_sort_list.sort()
    
    sorted_streets = []
    for street_parts in street_sort_list:
        if prefix.match(street_parts[-1]) and len(street_parts) > 2:
            street_parts.insert(0, street_parts.pop())
        sorted_streets.append(' '.join(street_parts))
        
    return sorted_streets

This solutions for sorting street names was inspired by Joel McCune's solution.